So they aren’t in the game already?
What sort of point’n’click is this?!
Gah. I’m stuck at the end of chapter 2. I’ve got 100% on all progress bars, including the bonus one and all locations are gray. And yet, it won’t trigger chapter 3.
Wonder if I hit a bug.
EDIT: Hmmm… Must have been a bug. I just redid everything I did (altnough possibly in a slightly different order), went back to 100% everywhere, and the Chapter 3 start cut scene followed the Chapter 2 end one.
The game must allow you to get in an end condition which doesn’t trigger the next cut scene.
Wendelius
Phew glad it came out in Germany already because there is a version circulating on the internet since a week.
Could have been quite damaging if that one “escaped” early!
I have pre-ordered the game from the UK the day it was listed (somewhere in summer I think) being a Sierra fan boy and therefore adoring her work for them.
Not sure how involved Jane was in the making of the game besides the writing (no clue if she had a say in the technical side like hotspots etc.).
What kind of computer requirements does this have? All I’ve got is a crap old Dell laptop, but I’d love to play the new Jane Jensen game. I guess it’s eventually coming to 360, but the Telltale games have convinced me that adapting point and click adventures to a gamepad is up there with New Coke and pants that zip themselves when they detect you’re done peeing.
Edit: Looking this information up myself has taught me that since I stopped really doing PC gaming four years ago, I completely lost the thread of what the hell these numbers mean. I’ve got a crap PC with an integrated video card, but it’s got like 2 gigs of memory and lots of sneeze marks on the screen.
GPU: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, NVIDIA GeForce 6200
DirectX, 128MB
RAM: 512 MB
CPU: Intel Pentium 4, 1.4 GHz
HD space: 6.5 GB
Audio: 16-bit sound card
Hm so let’s see.
Assuming you have Windows XP on this machine:
Go to “Start” -> “Settings” -> “Control Panel” -> “System”
There should be your CPU listed with something like “Intel 2,0 GHz” or something alike. There is also the amount of RAM listed.
In “Control Panel” -> “Sounds and Audio” -> Tab “Hardware”.
There should be your audio device (probably something with “Creative Soundblaster” if you have an extra card or something with “Sound Max” if it’s an on-board device)
Right click anywhere on the desktop -> “Properties” -> Tab “Settings”
-> “Advanced” -> Tab “Adapter” should show you the graphics card (something with ATI or NVIDIA if extra card or something with INTEL if on-board).
Finally the hd space. Open “Explorer”. Right click on the hard drive or the partitions (if more than C:\ drive available) -> “Properties”.
This will show you the free space of your hard drive / partitions.
She is credited for: story, dialogue, characters and game design. She might or might not have placed the hotspots. But it does feel like “a Jane Jensen game”, as the credits say.
Wendelius
Cool :)
Ah what the hell: I just canceled the zavvi.com pre-order and bought the German Collector’s Edition (as the English version is included).
Jane deserves all the money she can get! :)
Oh yea, forgot about checking my spam folder. Yea it was in there.
Thanks.
Great game so far, just got past the first chapter.
I know what you mean. I’m now in the middle of chapter 5 and the plot keeps thickening. I’m not sure I know exactly where this is going or what to believe right now.
Wendelius
This game is fantastic. I hope more people support it and Jane Jensen, truly one of the best writers in gaming history.
Bob, you and I probably won’t agree about much, but we’ll agree about this.
One thing that is either lacking (or that I can’t figure out how to do) is to see my completion rate for each chapter I’ve already finished. There have been at least two of the five chapters I’ve finished where I was ALMOST to 100% completion on everything–including bonuses–and then I did whatever it was to trigger the end of the chapter, got the cutscene, and was left wondering if that trigger gave me a full 100% complete or not. Anyone see any way to do that?
At any rate, I know I missed some bonus points in chapter 4, and possibly chapter 2. I’ll finish the game soon, move on to some other stuff…and then come back and replay and enjoy it again. Best thing I can say about this so far (and again with the caveat that I’m not done with the story yet) is that the writing has given me that feeling of being in the hands of a master storyteller that the first two GK games gave me (and that the third–which I liked, warts and all–kind of didn’t.)
Man, I still need to play GK 2, and maybe 3.
I, for one, am absolutely getting this game. Adventure has always my favorite genre, and it’s an itch that just doesn’t get scratched that often any more. I guess the only question: wait for the official US release, or get the German version? On the one hand, I sort of want to pick up the collector’s edition. OTOH, the digital German version would let me play now. Hmm…
Yeah, I couldn’t wait. The GK series is a personal favorite and I have been following the GM development for awhile. As soon as I was able to purchase and get, I did.
triggercut, yeah I don’t think there’s a way. I will concede that the game does have some elements you can nitpick. There seems to be a slight lack of overall polish to the game, which is a shame considering the development cycle. Doesn’t bother me, but I expect most “real” reviews to harp on these nitpicks.
The pacing is just perfect. Details are presented at a near-perfect rate. New elements and twists are presented and developed at an appropriate pace.
Some reviews will probably whine about the cut scene style, but I absolutely love them.
Shame she isn’t hired to write more games, even non-traditional adventures. It’s such a cut above.
Finished it tonight. Bullet point stuff:
- Certainly a work of art and a superior to nearly every other recent game story wise.
- I wish it was longer. The build up is great but it could have used a couple more chapters, I think. Some more chapters to deepen the mystery and to further support the conclusion would have been perfect.
- Because of that the end feels a little rushed. Probably because you want it to keep going but again, it feels a little quick.
- So as I commented in last post that the pacing is perfect… it is up until the end :)
- I can’t praise the cut scenes enough. Love the style. Works so well with the game, sort of classic paintings. Beats the hell out of “in-game cut scenes”.
- What did the chapter bonuses do? I was hoping they would unlock concept art, soundtrack, or movies of all the cut scenes. Instead it did nothing. Weird.
More comments later. Hope everyone who enjoys good games will support this. Baby angels cry when you waste money on some random shooter instead of buying this.
Trying to figure out if I want to wait for a U.S. release (or even gasp! an Xbox release) or if I want to take the plunge on the German version. But I will definitely be getting this one. Appreciate the impressions, guys.
How’s the grand game going trigger?
After being stuck for a while on Chapter 6, I finally made it to Chapter 8 tonight. And all I can say is shit just got realer and weirder, yo. :)
I’m loving this story. I’m a fan of Jane’s stories to start with. But this is really keeping me captivated and guessing… And a bit freaked out at times.
Wendelius
I just finished it and must agree with your comments Bob Cherub. The pacing was great and the story really involving. Yes, the end did feel rushed, but I think it’s because, by then, I didn’t want it to end. My played time was around 14 hours on my last save. I’m sure I left the game running a couple of times when taking care of my daughter. But it still kept me playing and puzzling for a very satisfying amount of time.
As for the cut scenes, I loved them. That style really works for me.
By the way, did you watch the credits until the end? I love the sketches and concept art that are shown throughout… And the last little wink to the characters.
Wendelius
Yeah, this is the best adventure game I’ve played in the last few years.
With the 360 demo out last week and my finally getting time to play it, I can now understand more of this thread.
The actual gameplay section with David was excellent. I loved those “memories” and the presentation as paintings like Bob Cherub said above. Great atmosphere in the demo, especially the part where you edit the scanned photo because your dead wife told you to in your memory pod.
I had no idea that I was finding 5 sense memories until I’d found 3 of them though. I guess I didn’t read the whiteboard well enough. Without the structure of that, it felt just like the classic adventure games of yore. Clicking on everything in various orders until it works.